Minutes of the 2Nd Meeting of the Community Affairs Committee (2020) of Kwai Tsing District Council

Minutes of the 2nd Meeting of the Community Affairs Committee (2020) of Kwai Tsing District Council Date： 6 May 2020 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Venue: K&T DO Conference Room Attendee Time of Arrival Time of Departure Mr NG Kim-sing (Chairman) Start of Meeting End of Meeting Miss WONG Pit-man (Vice-chairman) Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr CHEUNG Kwan-kiu, Steve Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr CHOW Wai-hung, Rayman 10:23 a.m. End of Meeting Mr HON Chun-yin Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr HUI Kei-cheung 11:39 a.m. End of Meeting Ms KWOK Fu-yung Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr LAM Siu-fai Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr LAU Chi-kit Start of Meeting End of Meeting Ms LAU Kwai-mui Start of Meeting End of Meeting Miss LEUNG Ching-shan Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr LEUNG Chi-shing 10:18 a.m. 1:20 p.m. Ms LEUNG Kar-ming Start of Meeting 1:16 p.m. Mr LEUNG Kam-wai Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr LEUNG Kwok-wah Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr LEUNG Wing-kuen 10:11 a.m. End of Meeting The Hon. LEUNG Yiu-chung 10:04 a.m. 11:12 a.m. Miss LO Yuen-ting Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr SIN Ho-fai Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr TAM Ka-chun, Warren Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr TONG Ho-man Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr TSUI Hiu-kit 10:53 a.m. End of Meeting Mr WONG Bing-kuen 10:24 a.m. End of Meeting Mr WONG Chun-tat 10:06 a.m. End of Meeting Mr WONG Yun-tat, Ivan start of Meeting End of Meeting In Attendance Mr CHEUNG Kam-hing, Billy Senior Environmental Protection Officer (Regional West) 4, Environmental Protection Department Mrs. KWOK WONG Mun-yi Senor School Development Officer (Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi) 3, Education Bureau Ms LUI Ka-wing Assistant District Social Welfare Officer (Tsuen Wan/ Kwai Tsing District) 3, Social Welfare Department Ms MAK Markie Senior Community Relations Officer, Independent Commission Against Corruption Ms MAK Siu-ling, Iris Senior Property Service Manager/Kwai Chung, Housing Department Mr TSANG Kin-hang, Gary Labour Officer (Workplace Consultation Promotion), Labour Department Mr YIM Kwok-ching, Timothy Chief Health Inspector (Kwai Tsing) 1, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Mr. YIM Wai-hung, Vincent Administrative Assistant/ Lands (District Lands Office, Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing), Lands Department Mr. LI Hok-lai, Matthew Engineer/Special Duties 1, Transport Department Ms CHAN Suet-shan, Amy Chief Land Executive /Task Force 2, Special Duties Task Force, Lands Department Mr SZETO Man Senior Land Executive /Task Force 8, Special Duties Task Force, Lands Department Mr. YEUNG Kim-ming Manager/ Squatter Control (Kowloon, Tsuen Wan & Kwai Tsing Office), Lands Department Ms MAR Suk-fong District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Kwai Tsing), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Ms CHAN Suk-fun Health Inspector (Pest Control) Kwai Tsing, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Mr LEE Wai-kay, Eric Senior Building Surveyor/ D4, Building Department Mr CHAU William Building Surveyor/ D4-4, Building Department Ms TAM Man-ting, Alice Assistant Environmental Protection Officer (Regional West) 42, Environmental Protection Department Miss YIM Yik-huen, Bonnie Assistant District Officer, Kwai Tsing District Office Miss HO Yin-king, Susanne Senior Liaison Officer (1), Kwai Tsing District Office Mr CHAU Ka-nin, Eric Senior Liaison Officer (3), Kwai Tsing District Office Miss TSE Lai-yan, Winnie (Secretary) Executive Officer (District Council) 3, Kwai Tsing District Office Opening Remarks The Chairman welcomed Members to the second meeting of the Community Affairs Committee (CAC) (2020) of the Kwai Tsing District Council (K&T DC). Confirmation of Minutes of the First Meeting (2020) held on 11 February 2020 2. Mr LAM Siu-fai moved a motion to confirm the minutes. The motion was seconded by Mr HON Chun-yin. The Committee endorsed the minutes unanimously. Motion: The Two Illegal Barbecue Sites in Kau Wa Keng Have Caused Enormous Nuisance to the Residents in the Neighbourhood Over the Years, Giving Rise to Problems such as Air Pollution, Noise Pollution, Light Pollution, Huge Amount of Illegal Parking. Kwai Tsing District Council Urges the Government to Set Up an Inter-Departmental Team to Take Strong Actions Against the Barbecue Sites to Stop them Causing Further Nuisance to the Residents, and to Report the Progress to the Committee Regularly. (Proposed by Mr CHEUNG Kwan-kiu, Steve and Mr TAM Ka-chun, Warren, seconded by Mr WONG Tin-yan and Mr SIN Chung-kai) (CAC Paper No. 27, 27a/D/2020) 3. Mr. CHEUNG Kwan-kiu, Steve introduced the Paper and put forth enquiries regarding the CAC Paper No. 27a/D/2020 as follows: (i) The District Lands Office, Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing (DLO) replied that the position of the manager had been left vacant since 2005 and there was still no appointment to fill that vacancy for fifteen years. Also, the manager would incur legal responsibility and therefore not many people would be willing to take up that job. DLO should consider adopting other means to handle the breach of lease conditions. (ii) The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) indicated that there had been a total of 16 prosecutions as at that moment. There were not any deterrent effects despite of continuous fines. The BBQ Grounds (BBQ Grounds) were still in operation. FEHD should step up the law enforcement efforts and suggest more effective measures like imprisonment. (iii) The residents of Kau Wa Keng Village, nearby Princess Margaret Hospital, Cho Yiu Chuen and Mei Foo Sun Chuen lodged complaints against the odour from the BBQ Grounds. Hence, he did not agree with the comments of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) Regional Office (West) that the odour was only intermittent, slight and would be dispersed in the air. He also queried their way of odour measurement. (iv) The nuisance of the BBQ Grounds to the residents of Kau Wa Keng had been lasted for 17 years. He requested a report listing all efforts taken by various Government departments over the years. 4. Mr YIM Wai-hung, Vincent, Administrative Assistant/Lands (District Lands Office, Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing), Lands Department, gave a consolidated response as follows: (i) The lease was the private contract between the Government and the land owners. The landowners are required to ensure that the uses of land are in compliance with the lease conditions. A land lease is a private contract and is enforced by DLO in its capacity as the landlord and a party to the contract involving no prosecutions. The two Kau Wa Keng BBQ Grounds concerned were the private agricultural land held under Block Government Leases and erected on remaining section of Lot No. 1349 in DD No. 4. As there were no restrictions on the land use for this type of private land lot, there was no breach with the terms and conditions of the lease by operating BBQ Grounds there. (ii) However, a prior approval from the DLO was required if one needed to erect structures in the aforesaid land lot. As there were unauthorized structures erected in the aforesaid land lot, Lease enforcement actions have been carried out including by issuing warning letters to the landowners. registration of a warning letter at the Land Registry or re-entry upon the land. The warning letter will be registered at the Land Registry, commonly known as "imposing an encumbrance". (iii) After that, DLO also enhanced enforcement. A statutory notice was issued under the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, requiring that the unauthorised structures be demolished within a specified time. Although the owner could rectify the breach by the deadline, it was noticed that marquees was set up again recently. A statutory notice was issued again in early May this year. DLO would closely monitor the situation, take appropriate action and collaborate with other Government departments if necessary. (iv) As regards the application for the appointment of the manager, the Kwai Tsing District Office (K&TDO) had already received two applications which were still under progress. 5. Mr LI Hok-lai, Matthew, Engineer/Special Duties 1, Transport Department (TD), gave responses as follows: (i) On enforcement against illegal parking, it would be more appropriate to handle by law enforcement authorities. (ii) Regarding the parking space in the neighbourhood, TD had inspected the situation recently and found that there was still spare capacity in the carpark of Wah Lai Estate. Hence, the issue of illegal parking was not related to the supply of carparks in the neighbourhood. 6. Miss HO Yin-king, Susanne, Senior Liaison Officer (1), K&TDO, gave a consolidated response as follows: (i) K&TDO had received applications for the manager of the Tsang Wa Hon Tso (the Tso). Objections were received after putting up the notice. (ii) K&TDO requested all the applicants for the position of manager had to submit a complete stakeholder list of the Tso and gained the support from the majority of the stakeholders before processing the applications. K&TDO had to protect the interests of all the stakeholders processing the application for the manager. In other words, any objections had to be resolved. (iii) K&TDO had met the applicants between January to March 2020. In order to process the application and deal with the objections, applicants were required and requested to submit more information. 7. Mr YIM Kwok-ching, Timothy, Chief Health Inspector (Kwai Tsing) 1, FEHD, highlighted that the FEHD concerned about the operation of unlicensed restaurants and always step up inspections and took enforcement action.

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